Father ‘living every parent’s worst nightmare’ after 15-year-old killed in freak accident

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FORT THOMAS, Ky. — A Kentucky father is speaking out for the first time since his 15-year-old daughter was killed in a freak accident last month, WXIX reports.

Michelle Chalk was killed on Aug. 1 when a tree fell on her while she was sitting in a hammock.

“We are living every parent’s worst nightmare,” Keith Chalk told WXIX. “Every time a teenager leaves the house and gets in a car, every time their child goes off to college. There’s always that fear. Every time they get on their bike and peddle away from the home, there’s always the fear that they’re not coming back home and for us, that was Michelle.”

The teen was on a hammock in the backyard of a friend’s house when the accident happened.

“We come downstairs and the detective is in the living room and I say, ‘it’s about Michelle isn’t it?’ He said ‘Yes. A tree fell on her, hit her in the head, she didn’t make it,'” Keith said.

Keith said his daughter was always smiling and full of confidence. She wanted to be a dancer or work with animals when she grew up and was excited about starting her freshman year of high school.

“When she was on stage at a recital she had lots of confidence and she could be a business woman… she could be anything. That’s something she absolutely did have,” Keith said.

Chalk, who started dancing at the age of 3, performed with the Cincinnati Ballet, according to her obituary. She appeared in the Nutcracker for four years.